Patients with surgical ostomy operations commonly are provided with externally worn ostomy bags. An ostomy bag has an opening adhesively sealed to the skin of the patient about the ostomy stoma. The bags must be periodically removed and emptied, and the adhesive seal must be maintained waterproof and air-tight to prevent the escape of embarrassing odors. The skin area to which the adhesive is applied often becomes irritated, and the problem may be compounded by contact of the irritated skin with bowel contents and may lead to serious and even life-threatening infections.
Similarly, patients who have undergone certain types of throat surgery cannot ingest food normally through the esophagus. Instead, a patient may be provided with a gastric feeding tube which extends through a surgical incision from the stomach outwardly through the skin, and through which food, generally in liquid or semi-liquid form, is added directly to the stomach. Prostheses of this type must remain securely in place, and must sealingly engage the stomach and the exterior skin of the patient overlying the stomach so as to prevent the escape of stomach contents into the abdominal or thoracic cavity or permit the stomach contents to contact the wound through which the gastric feeding tube passes. Hence, problems are presented that are similar to those of ostomy patients.
My U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,765 discloses a medical prosthesis that includes a drainage tube, the inner end of which is secured to the stoma of a patient deep to the fascia, and the outer end portion of which is releasably sealed. By securing the inner end portion of the drainage tube deep to the fascia, the drainage tube may be put under tension by securing its forward or outer end to a plate which bears against the patient's skin. One means for attaching the forward end of the tube to the plate is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,765, the tube extending through the plate and being folded upon itself. It is desirable, however, to be able to terminate the drainage tube at the plate, the drainage tube being maintained in tension between its attachment to the plate and its inner securement deep to the fascia (with ostomy patients), and within the stomach (for gastric feeding patients).